Newcastle after Standard Liege Ace

After having undercooked the transfer incomings in the summer and admitting so, the scouts at St. James’s park have been working overtime this January. And the latest name rumored to be coming in is Standard Liege’s defensive midfielder William Vainqueur.

Vainqueur is s a Frenchmen (surprise-surprise), who started out at now fallen French giants Nantes, making his debut in 2006-07 season before signing for the Belgian giants before the start of the 2011 season.

The news is that Vainqueur has fallen out with the coach at Standard liege Mircea Rednic and could be available for a knock down price of £2.5million. Newcastle are not the only side that are chasing his signature with Southampton also rumored to be in the hunt for the lad.

Belgian footballers are famous for their technical ability and I am sure Vainqueur is also one of those who is neat and tidy on the ball with good technical ability. So far Vainqueur has played 44 league games for the Belgian club and has scored 3 goals in the process, all of them coming in this season which is good record for a defensive midfielder. The player also brings with him experience of playing in the Europa league.

Newcastle have been looking for central midfielder, according to the tabloids anyway, with the likes of Yann M’villa of Rennais and Moussa Sissoko of Toulouse being strongly linked with a move to the club.

I understand the need for a strong squad but midfield is one place where Newcastle is very well stocked with the likes of Cabaye, Anita, Marveaux, Perch, Tiote and Bigirimana all having established themselves. However, it appears as though Pardew is intent on bringing in another midfield player to reinforce a precariously injury-prone set of players. It could also mean an end at the club for someone like Dan Gosling who has failed to nail down a regular spot in the first team.

We as fans would want players who are capable of doing justice to the jersey and if Vainqueur can do that, he would be appreciated by all and sundry at the club.

Let’s hope Vainqueur, which means ‘conqueror’ in English, can come to the club and can conquer all that there is for the club to conquer.